17 December 2010

Liberia '77 ~ Living History of Past & Present...

"For Jeff Topham and his brother Andrew, 70s Liberia was a childhood paradise [...] Their father worked for Exchem, a Canadian company that made explosives for the Liberian mining industry. He also took thousands of photographs -- extensively recording not only an ex-pat family’s extraordinary African experience, but also unknowingly documenting a country and a people on the edge of destruction. A bloody coup d’etat and two brutal civil wars would soon devastate the nation. 30 years later, and now both photographers themselves, Jeff and Andrew return to Liberia to revisit and re-shoot their childhood Eden. But what starts as a personal journey, exploring the connection between memory and photography, quickly evolves into something they didn’t expect. [...] their father’s photos are far more than just family snapshots of an idyllic ex-pat childhood. For a people whose happy memories -- and photographs -- have been destroyed by war, the images also offer a rare proof of a once peaceful and prosperous country, and hope for a brighter future."

Their side-by-side photo juxtapositions are especially powerful, for example, home in Liberia, past and present... P.S. The one-minute promo clip above is fine indeed, but check out the extra goodness in this extended clip...